For The Flock
by GreenEyed14
Summary: Rating to be sure Max and Fang discover their romance through adventures and it grows, slowly but steadily.Note: The story does not revolve around them. Their romance is just an added in part.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey," I heard a voice behind me. Fang. I turned around to look at him and smiled when I caught him rubbing his eyes. He immediately dropped his hands.

"My turn," he said.

"Ok."

I got up from my post on the rock and walked to the back of the cave, letting him relieve me of my guard duties. Dragging my feet, I made my way to the middle of the cave and laid myself down to try to catch a few winks.

After ten minutes, I knew sleep wasn't going to come that night. So I did the only logical thing there was to do. I ran past Fang and jumped of the ledge of the cave. And flew. When my wings reached a steady beat, I turned and hovered about fifteen feet in front of Fang. I gave a small laugh and he smirked.

"Come on," I urged waving my hands to him. "The air's light."

He hesitated for a second then stood up and threw himself off the ledge. I flew off in the direction of the trees, knowing he would follow me.

We flew for about five minutes before seeing a clearing below us and dove, bringing our wings out just yards above the ground. I landed first and took off running through the thick trees and underbrush. Hearing him behind me and gaining, I took a quick left as to throw him off. It didn't work. So I stopped dead and he ran into me, not expecting me to be unmoving. The force of him running into me knocked us both down, him falling on top of me.

When I opened my eyes, his face was inches from mine. My breathing became ragged and I unconciously licked my lips, looking into his chocolate brown eyes. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he leaned in and closed his eyes. Then our lips met. At first it was cautious as if we were making sure the other wanted this, but after a few seconds, it became more heated. He pulled back and looked into my eyes and I blinked once before he captured my lips with his own again. He opened his mouth slightly and ran his tongue tentatively along my lip, requesting entrance. I gladly opened my mouth wider, letting him in to explore. It lasted for a few seconds longer until he abruptly pulled away and jumped up as if just realizing what was happening.

"Umm, uh, well we better, uh, get back don't you think?" he asked nervously.

I felt a blush creeping onto my cheeks and tried to hide it with my hair before replying "Sure."

We walked back to the clearing and flew back to the cave, the whole time not saying anything but thinking the same thing. We were both thinking about the kiss we had just shared. I liked it. A lot. But I would never admit that until Fang did and even then it would still be embarrassing. We came into view of the cave to see Nudge looking around, presumably for us. When we arrived at the ledge, she looked at us quizzically.

"Where were you guys?" she asked.

Fang continued to walk to the back of the cave to wake everybody up, so it was up to me to make some story up for our absence.

"Well I wanted to go out and get some air, stretch my wings, you know. And I asked Fang if he wanted to join me." I explained.

I turned away from further questioning and saw Gazzy stumbling towards me, his eyes half-way open with tiredness.

"Hungry.." he mumbled. I smiled, thinking about how cute the 8 year-old was. Especially when he wasn't blowing things up..

"Okay, breakfast in a few then. Any requests?" As if we could take requests. We were in the middle of nowhere, edge of the woods. But I knew no one would be picky about what we ate, as long as we got something to eat.

_We could get breakfast in town,_ I thought but then realized we'd need to eat before making a two and a half hour flight. _Okay, that plan's dead... now what?_

I looked at Fang, wondering if he would mind getting a small animal and I could find a nearby farmer and borrow a few pieces of corn or something for Nudge. Ever since she and Fang stayed with the hawks, she's refused to eat meat. I guess I can understand that though. I probably wouldn't eat it after seeing those animals killed, either.

"Hey! Fang, you think you can go get some breakfast?" I called. He turned around and looked at me before nodding silently and flying back into the woods.

Fang returned twenty minutes later carrying a lifeless opossum in his hands. I grimaced but then thought _Better not let it bother me. It's breakfast..._ and took it from his hands, placing it over the small fire.

"Watch this, will you? I saw a farm on our way here yesterday," I said to Fang. Again, he nodded and this time I was the one to fly away. I backtracked the way we had come yesterday and within a few minutes, the small farm came into view. I dropped down on the edge of the vegetables furthest away from the house and picked a few pieces of corn, some tomatoes and found a few apple trees. After stuffing all this into my tightened windbreaker, I flew back to the cave just when the meat was done cooking.

I handed the food to Nudge and with a small "Thanks," she started eating the "borrowed" edibles. _Oh well,_ I thought. _When you're on the run, you have no money and you have to support yourself and five more kids, someone has to give up (unknowingly of course) a few bites._

After we were all done eating, we took off for town. We were heading for DC again, reasons unknown to me. We were flying north for about an hour before Iggy said "Uh, Max? Bad news, due north-west." I looked and spotted about ten Erasers heading our way. "Guys, split up!" I yelled, "Angel, Nudge, take the left. Gazzy, Ig, right. Fang, up top! Go!" As an afterthought, "Angel, Total goes in the backpack. Don't drop him!"

Looking to my right, I saw Gazzy and Iggy preparing themselves to fight, and when I looked up at Fang, he looked down at me, his eyes calm as ever. I looked to the front and saw the Erasers just fifty feet off. A few more seconds and they were on us, kicking, punching, clawing and biting. I saw a creamy, boxy Eraser and laughed as I remembered Fang's comment comparing them to flying refrigerators and us to ballerinas. The next thing I knew, I was falling a few feet. _That laughter cost you, Max_ my Voice told me.

_You think I didn't catch that? My face is throbbing! _I mentally snapped at it.

"Sorry, did that hurt?" a voice came tauntingly to my ears.

_Ari..._

I looked up and saw him, sloppily hovering, his hands held innocently behind his back. _Even though there's nothing innocent left of him... _I thought.

I turned to the sound of Nudge's laughter as Angel controlled the Erasers with her mind. Randomly, they would fall out of the sky hundreds of feet to their death. Their very painful death, that is.

It took only a few of the Erasers falling to get the rest to realize they didn't stand a chance once she got to them, so on Ari's command, they flew east into the rising sun.

"Well guys," I said once we were gathered, "I think we better go back to New York if they know we were going to DC."

_I wonder how they knew though.._ I thought while looking at my arm and the chip. I looked at Fang and he seemed to know what I was thinking and gave a grim expression.

"Ok, let's go."

A couple hours later, we arrived at the edge of New York City and dive-bombed to the ground. The further we walked into the town, the more pain twisted Iggy's face. "You okay, Ig?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, forcing a smile.

"Ok then.. if you're sure."

I knew he was in pain with so much noise invading his sensitive ears, but if he wasn't going to admit it, I couldn't do anything about it.

We reached the heart of the city just when the sky was turning to a dark purple for the night. We walked around until we found a tall building to stay for the night. It was under construction and the walls have just been put up with holes cut out of the sides for window installments. Perfect for escaping.

A few minutes later, we were up in the top and settling in.

We all said our goodnights, stacked fists and went off to bunk. I looked around and everyone was asleep already. Flying really took it out of them. Then I turned to look at Fang. Well, everyone was asleep but him. I silently walked over to him and laid myself down, preparing to sleep. We always slept next to each other. It gave us both a sense of comfort, but tonight, it was a bit awkward. If you'll remember our little rendevouz in the woods, you might figure why.

"Wanna talk about it?" he could always tell when something was wrong with me.

I gave a half-hearted smile and said "Sure."

"Is it about what happened this morning..?"

I hesitated "...Yeah," I said finally. There was no use lying, he always knew.

He grimaced. "Oh."

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

_Please don't talk about it please don't talk about it please don't talk about it,_ I pleaded.

"Well, I'm not sure why it happened. It just seemed... right, I guess."

"Oh, ok then. Night."

"That's it?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, there's not much to say except it happened and I liked it," I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth, realizing what I said.

He blushed slightly before supplying a cocky "Really?" with a lopsided grin.

I mentally slapped myself. Sighing, I sat up and put my elbows on my knees. Fang followed, curling his knees to his chest.

"Well, so you know, I liked it too.."

I looked at him in bewilderment. Fang! Admitting something like this! Wow, I must be in a parallel universe or _something!_

"But even though we both liked it, we can't let it happen again. We can't be involved in any way. For the flock," he said with a slight tinge of disappointment. I felt it too.

"Yeah, flock," I mumbled. Laying back down, I muttered a quick "Night, Fnick," and chuckled.

He laid back down and scooted closer, wrapping his body into mine.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning and felt something against my back. Jumping up in alarm, I twisted before I landed on my feet and realized it was Fang. Last night came rushing back to me and I felt the disappointment again. He groggily opened his eyes and looked up at me. "Morning," he muttered.

"Hey. Wanna go grab some breakfast before the others wake up?"

"Sure."

Seconds later we were launching ourselves out the windows, spreading our wings. It was early enough so that there weren't a lot of people on the streets yet, but we still kept to the alleys. I spotted a McDonald's below and motioned to Fang to drop. We landed on the dumpster and stuffed our windbreakers with old but still edible fries, patties and apple pies.

When we got back to the building, we heard a bang and laughing from inside a window. Glancing to the side at Fang, we both sped up and I flew through the window first, not believing my eyes.

"Guys! We're supposed to be laying low! Not to mention, you've done _major_ smoke damage here!" I yelled. They had been throwing bombs off the edge of the floor from the 72nd floor and they would fall down, down, down the big gaping hole that was the not-yet-built floors. Big surprise. Really. I didn't think they were that stupid.

"Sorry, Max," Gazzy looked up at me with his baby blue 8 year-old eyes. I felt myself melt on the inside.

"Don't do it again," I said, calmer now.

I heard another fuse lit and snapped my head around to see Iggy grinning.

"IGGY!" I screamed. He turned to face me, forgetting the explosive in his hand. "IGGY! DROP IT!" I screamed again, the fuse almost gone. He instantly waved his hand, dropping it just in time. It exploded milliseconds after it left his hand. Angel screamed, being the first to see the orange behind the gray and black smoke. "Guys! Move it!" I yelled.

Then I realized Iggy couldn't find his way out with the confusing smoke all around him. I ran over to him, just in time to see him place his hands in front of his face as to block the heat. Right as I was about to grab his shoulder, an icy blue mist shot from his palms, calming the flames. Feeling the cold tingling in his hands, he held them in front of his face, his sightless eyes widening.

"Iggy, do it again! It's stopping the fire!" I called. He turned to me and looked back to the flames, using his icy hand powers again. Minutes later, the fire was out. The others were hovering outside the window waiting in anticipation. I pulled Iggy along towards the window, maybe a little too forcefully, but I figured he deserved it after not listening to me and starting that fire. I would have felt NO sympathy had he burned. Whatsoever. Ok, yeah, I probably would have felt really bad if he'd even gotten touched by the flames, but that's besides the point.

We crawled through the window and joined the others with worried looks on their faces.

"We're ok. Actually, more than ok! I have a new power!" Iggy exclaimed.

"Really! What is it? Can you show us?" Nudge asked excitedly.

I got an idea to keep the younger ones entertained for quite a while. "Hey, Iggy. How about we go to a ipond/i so you can show them?" I said suggestively.

"Pon- OH! Pond.. gotcha," he chuckled. "Ok, let's go find a pond. Preferrably not where everyone can see and wonder why this is happening in the middle of the summer!"

We flew to the city limits and out into the country sky where the air was cleaner and we could fly better.

"There's one!" Angel pointed to a small pond below where no one was around.

We descended and landed next to a big willow tree next to the pond.

"Ok Iggy, show 'em what you got," I said. I took his elbow and walked him to the edge of the pond, resisting the urge to push him in just for the heck of it. I stepped back and he smiled at me before turning to the water and holding his hands out. I looked at the flock and they had looks of confusion on their faces until the cold mist shot from his palms and the confusion changed to wonder.

"Oh, Iggy! That's great!" Angel ran up and hugged his waist. "Can you freeze the iwhole thing/i? I've always wanted to ice skate!"

"Max?" Iggy asked for my approval. I shrugged and said "Why not?"

Angel gave a squeal of excitement as Iggy resumed the freezing of the water. I walked over under the tree and sat down, leaning against the trunk and closing my eyes. A minute later, I felt eyes on me and snapped my eyes open expecting Erasers. I looked to my left, nothing. To my right, there was Fang, lying on the ground with his hands behind his head looking at me.

"What?" I smiled.

"Nothing," he answered.

I sighed. He never told me what he was thinking. It irked me a little, but wasn't a big issue I had decided. "Ok."

We sat (or in Fang's case, laid) in silence for a few minutes, watching the others glide around on the ice.

"You know, we need some new clothes," I observed, looking at my tattered shirt.

"Yeah, I guess we do. We don't have any money though. And I don't think we're gonna get any clothes for free. Oh wait, we could go to a Goodwill," he said the last part distastefully.

I laughed at the tone of his voice and said, "Or we could nab another credit card," and before he could interrupt, "I know it's wrong but pretty soon, we'll be naked!"

He considered that for a second then said jokingly, "Oh, I wouldn't mind. You know, born free, as free as the wind blows," he mock-sang.

"Yeah, that's us. Born free, raised free," I commented dryly.

He chuckled before adding, "So, whose card?"

Five minutes later, we were leaving the frozen pond and flying towards the city again, to much of Angel and Gazzy's protests. I explained that we needed to stick together in case any trouble came up. Especially in a place as big as the Big Apple. iNew Yawk, New Yawk. The Yankee State. The Empire State. Ok, stopping with the names now/i I thought.

We arrived at the edge of the city and walked casually down the streets looking for an ATM. At every one we came to we waited around for fifteen minutes to see if anyone might forget their cash or card. After seven ATMs, we were getting restless. The next one we came up to, we leaned against the wall, Iggy being closest for he could crack the PIN from auditory assistance. After three minutes, a balding man walked quickly up and slid his card in mumbling to himself about 'darn technology taking too long.' He punched in some numbers, grabbed his cash and walked away, still mumbling to himself.

"Three-eight-two-seven," Iggy said automatically. We all stared in disbelief at the machine beeping and blinking "Please take your card."

A few seconds and I jumped out of my daze, pushing the card back in and pressing in the numbers.

"Three... eight... two... seven," I muttered, typing in the code as I talked.

A screen came up asking if I would like to make a withdrawl or deposit.

"YES!" I punched the air. I pressed the silver button next to withdrawl and pressed another signifying two hundred dollars.

A stack of bills shot out a slot in the bottom, waiting for me to grab them. "Would you like to make another withdrawl?" the screen flashed again. I pressed the yes button, and again, it asked me how much. I got another two hundred and grabbed the money, the card and walked away.

"I'm hungry," Gazzy stated.

"I know, I've been listening to your stomach for the past ten minutes," I said dryly. Then common sense grabbed me, "Ok, fine. Let's stop at this McDonald's up here. Then we'll go to the mall. Lord knows we all need some new clothes."

We walked into the McDonalds and walked to the counter, looking at the menu.

"Umm, I want three double quarter pounders, four medium fries, two apple pies and two drinks," Gazzy said as soon as we stopped walking.

"I'll have five salads, two fries and two medium drinks," Nudge said.

The cashier pressed all this in, a suspicious look on his face.

"Two Big N' Tastys, two medium fries, three apple pies, one M&M McFlurry and a medium drink, please," Angel said in her sweetest voice with a smile to match.

"What sounds good?" Iggy asked, not being able to see the menu.

"Um well, there's cheeseburgers, chicken strips, chicken nuggets, salads, apple pies, McFlurries, and.. that's about it I guess," I listed off.

"Ok, six double cheeseburgers, doubled. That's four patties on each. Five apple pies and three drinks," Iggy said automatically.

"Fang?" I looked at him. He steeped up to the counter quietly.

"Six McChickens, eight apple pies, three M&M McFlurries, four drinks."

"I'll have what he's having," I said, motioning to Fang.

After the cashier got done pressing all of this in, he looked between us and the register. "Your total's... eighty-nine dollars and ninety-seven cents."

I handed him a hundred and he gave me back my change. "Ten dollars and three cents is your change. Your food will be ready in a few minutes," he said, still surprised we ordered so much food. He was probably thinking something along the lines of 'There's no way six kids can eat this much food.'

A few minutes later we got our food, filled up our drinks and sat at the big, round table in the corner. Everyone grabbed their orders and started eating in a frenzy. After ten minutes, all the food was gone and the boy who took our order was staring at us dumbly.

"It's not polite to stare!" Angel called over to him and he looked down at his register, blushing.

"Ok, guys. Let's get out of here and go shopping," I declared.


End file.
